Q: Can animal control impound a dog accused of biting an 8 year old?
Some children are claiming my dog bit one of them. She escaped my control when the children got her excited. As they ran she did too, leaving my sight line for a moment. When I got to her, none of them said anything about being bitten.
They filed a police report and my leasing office is demanding ahe "be removed immediately". Do I have any recourse or even an option for buying time to try to resolve the situation. We do not want to surrender her back to the animal shelter.
A: Yes, animal control could theoretically impound the dog, but for a first bite they ordinarily will not do so so long as you have proof of up to date rabies shots. Otherwise, the protocol is to impound the dog under quarantine to watch for signs of rabies—if the dog is still alive in 10 days, it doesn’t have rabies. As the owner you can be fined, and there can be a finding of a “dangerous dog” so you may want to contest that finding. The reason is that a second bite incident can be grounds for permanently taking your dog if it has previously been found to be a dangerous dog. Many bites are just nips and excitement-based. There’s very little defense to the running off leash violation because the duty to maintain control of your dog is on the owner 100%. However, always contest an adverse finding that your dog aggressively bit anyone so as to avoid a future issue that could result in your dog being taken. As for your landlord issue, you may be able to evens that action based on the language of your lease and any referenced rules and regulations adopted by the landlord in the lease terms, as well as the results of any animal control proceeding.
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